Round 20 provided us with an Easter treat that was more delicious than a family sized box of Cadbury's Creme Eggs, other chocolate brands are available (!) as we were delighted by 339 points and a whopping 39 tries, yes I did say 39! Time to get comfortable and review all of the action;
During their pre-match
interviews both Richard Cockerill and Conor O’Shea stated that their players’
intended to play some expansive rugby and my goodness me did they do just that!
Underneath the Friday Night Lights in South West London the game was played at a
ferocious pace with breaks made all over the field from both sides. Leicester were quickest off the mark thanks to the cool head of Toby Flood who
stepped into the 10 shirt as if he had never been away and Ed Slater who continued to marshal and captain his side as if he had been doing it for years, not just a matter of weeks. Harlequins' Nick Evans kept the home side in touch as he utilised his full box of tricks and the dynamic England duo of Danny Care and Mike Brown were on fire and proved to be the difference between the two sides. The ferocity of the game boiled over at points and once again referee
Tim Wigglesworth was perhaps a little too prominent for some people's liking however that should not cloud what was a stunning advert for Premiership
Rugby. Whilst the Leicester Tigers fought until the bitter end the night belonged to the Harlequins' players and supporters... Quins played the
type of rugby that secured them the Aviva Premiership title just a few ago and even
though both Bath and Leicester are now six points ahead of them they won’t have given up hope of gaining a playoff position just yet.
On Saturday London
Wasps had the honour of calling Twickenham Stadium home for their huge Stinger
fixture and underneath the blissful sunshine in South West London Dai Young’s squad
delivered the bonus point win that they so desperately needed in order to keep their
European rugby hopes alive. Once again Gloucester were forced into a late
change due to Martyn Thomas' injury and that resulted in a drastically reshuffled back line which included a rare appearance from Freddie Burns in the role of fly half. Charlie Sharples and Jonny May both ran some stunning lines and the men Cherry
and White played with intent and endeavour however their inability to
dominate at the set piece and pacify Wasps’ large ball carriers meant that in
the end the result slipped away from them as it has done on so many occasions
this year. London Wasps fought hard for their victory, captain Chris Bell played a blinder, obviously inspired by leading his team out at HQ for the first time and the whole back row were outstanding. Nathan Hughes deservedly was given the MOM award for his storming performance and finally Tom Varndell slipped back into action as if he had never been away. According to Dai Youngs in the post match press conference his men had to 'win the game two or three times' and should have been a little more clinical however on the whole he was a happy man. The result means that Gloucester now slip to ninth in the table whilst Wasps leap frog Exeter into that much coveted 7th place position.
On the Chiefs’ website
their match report begins with the following words; ‘Those of a nervous
disposition had best look away now……as the this doesn’t make for happy reading
if you follow the fortunes of Exeter Chiefs.’ and I really couldn’t have put it better
myself. On Saturday afternoon Baxter's men had an afternoon that
they will wish to forget and not repeat for a long, long time. The Sale Sharks arrived
at Sandy Park with the bit between their teeth after their lackluster performance against Harlequins last Friday Night and my goodness me did they
raise their game... the Sharks scored no less than 8 tries and secured their place in Europe in style. Exeter lost Captain Dean Mumm before the match after he failed a late fitness test on his shoulder and sadly for the home side
he was sorely missed. The Chiefs
never were allowed into the game and individuals weren’t allowed to play to the
best of their abilities due to the Sharks dominance. As ever Mike Paterson was outstanding, Dwayne Peel was effervescent and another individual shone too; Mr Danny Cipriani. Andy
Farrell was sat in the stands and I hope that he noticed Cips' outstandingly assured performance and made a note of it with a certain tour coming up very shortly!! All in
all it was as great weekend to be a Shark and a character building one if you
are a Chief.
At The Rec both teams had a huge
amount to play for and boy did it show in the rugby on the pitch... the Worcester Warriors pushed
the home side all the way in an attempt to keep their Aviva Premiership
survival hopes alive and kicking however once again they didn’t quite finish the job. What
will be most upsetting for Dean Ryan’s men was the fact that it could have
ended so differently had they secured the 13 points that they missed from place kicks. As
usual Pennell oozed class and their inside centre Andy Symons had a stormer and asked
questions of the opposition throughout... whilst it is superb to see their fighting
spirit you get the feeling that it is simply too little too late for Ryan's men. For the home side their class act Nick Abendanon was as prolific as ever, Micky Young had a great day at scrum half and outside of him young Ford showed his full repertoire of tricks however as Daddy Ford said after the game defensively they all should be been better. The result and the achievement of a bonus point means that Bath now move up to third place in the table above the Leicester Tigers, however neither are 100% guaranteed a play off position just yet.
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| Image Claire Jones Red Hat Photography |
The Northampton Saints booked
their ticket into the Aviva Premiership playoffs thanks to a five try display
at Franklin’s Gardens on Sunday afternoon against London Irish however it wasn’t
all plain sailing for the home side. Northampton chose to start with Kahn
Fotuali'i at scrum half and it was a superb decision; he ignited the
match and set an extremely quick tempo for the game. One of Saints' big men, perhaps even their biggest depending on what criteria you employ; Salesi Ma'afu worked his socks of all day and thoroughly deserved his MOM
award after a shift of gargantuan proportions. At this point allow me to send hooker Matt Williams the warmest of recovery wishes after he left the field with a horrific looking leg injury
after only just returning to full fitness. For London Irish Tom Homer, Blair Cowen and Jebb Sinclair were all outstanding however it was Shane Geraghty who was their standout player as he relished
captaining his current side against his former club. The match itself had many twists
and turns... Saints raced to a healthy lead however then Irish scored twenty one unanswered points in the second half and
it could have been twenty eight had it not been for a rather large forward pass
decision from the TMO and JP Doyle. What happened to Saints!? Well they were
caught napping and unsurprisingly Jim Mallinder was annoyed at this however
when the final whistle blew they had done just enough and recorded a big, fat W
against their name and ticked that Aviva Premiership home semi final playoff box .
The last match of the weekend was up at Kingston Park where the Newcastle Falcons had everything to play for against Saracens... if the Falcons had won then they would have been guaranteed survival for another year however it was not to be. Mark McCall picked a side that showcased the depth in the Saracens squad and whether you like that or not you can surely understand why; Newcastle are/were a full ten places behind them in the table, they have already secured their home playoff fixture and there is the small matter of Clermont in a few days time. Newcastle fielded a familiar squad with the exception of young Joel Hodgson who made his first Aviva Premiership start at fly half. Joel certainly held his own and has come on leaps and bounds this year under the tutelage of Dean Richards. For a team that had lost their last thirteen consecutive matches and had a shocker against London Irish last weekend Newcastle equipped themselves well from early on and pushed Saracens all the way... they were led by their speedster Sinoti Sinoti. For Saracens it was fantastic to see that Al Hargreaves, Alex Goode and Will Fraser were back on the field after their respective injuries and all put in strong shifts, in particular Alex. Saracens more experienced men in the half backs, Wigglesworth and Hodgson, combined well to help secure what was a tough fought victory up in the Toon. After the game McCall hailed his squad's effort whilst Richards and his men have to wait a couple more weeks in order to try and secure their Premiership safety.
After all of that Easter action it is now time for another short European break... Round 20 has certainly sorted a few things at the very top of the table as both Saracens and Northampton safely secured their home playoff fixtures... however everything else remains unclear! The third and fourth playoff positions are by no means decided... Leicester, Bath, Quins and maybe even Sale are battling it out between them for those precious spots. In the middle even though Wasps now look to be front runners for that 7th place European playoff spot there is still a lot of rugby left to play and finally at the bottom of the table Worcester are clinging onto a tiny, tiny thread of hope! Needless to say Round 21 will be as nail-biter across the country, so do enjoy the forthcoming European action but please save a spot of energy for the Aviva Premiership because Round 21 will be an absolute belter of a round.
